A (hopefully) comprehensive look at the uniforms, logos and design of the Green Bay Packers, 1919 to today

Sunday, November 15, 2009

Ramming the Point Home

Still trying to identify the point when the Packers abandoned leather helmets. We do know that the entire team was wearing plastic shells (at least in some games) by 1952, based on this photo from the Packers' heartbreaking loss to the Los Angeles Rams at Marquette Stadium in Milwaukee on October 12, 1952.

As we've discussed, Gene Ronzani was putting his own stamp on the club, slowly eliminating Curly Lambeau's blue and athletic gold scheme. Here we see Ronzani's green jerseys paired with a metallic gold shell. The result was reportedly something like this:

3 comments:

Great photo, Chance. Seeing as they only played three regular-season games at Marquette Stadium, such photos are rare.

I have a book at home, "The Baltimore Colts Story" by longtime Baltimore football writer John Steadman, that says the Packers bought the Colts' plastic helmets after the 1950 Colts folded, which I presume means 1951 was the first all-plastic season. (The Colts that Unitas played for were a different franchise.)

Chance Michaels is a native New Yorker who spent many of his formative years in Milwaukee and developed a lifelong interest in the region's sporting history. In addition to his work with the Green Bay Packers Uniform Database, he edits BorchertField.com, an ongoing research project devoted to Milwaukee's pre-1953 baseball clubs and their ballpark.

When not immersing himself in old game programs, wire service photos and newspaper archives, he produces theatre Off-Broadway, and was formerly a contributor to The Onion. He lives in New York City with his family.

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